SBA lenders approved 416 7(a) loans to other real estate service businesses (NAICS 531390) from October 2023 to June 2026, totaling $209,418,700 from 133 lenders. The median loan, $200,000, is above the national $150,300, and the median rate, 10.5%, sits a little above the national 10.25%. The top of the range is unusually heavy: 15.1% of loans reached $1 million or more. Lenders first confirm the business earns fees for services rather than income from property it holds, then test cash flow across the housing cycle and check how client funds are kept apart.
| Measure | Other Activities Related to Real Estate | All industries |
|---|---|---|
| SBA 7(a) loans approved | 416 | 162,355 |
| Median loan | $200,000 | $150,300 |
| Middle half of loans | $58,750 – $500,000 | $50,000 – $500,000 |
| Loans of $1 million or more | 15.1% | 12.9% |
| Median rate at approval | 10.5% | 10.25% |
| Middle half of rates | 9.5% – 11.5% | 9.3% – 11.25% |
| Acquisitions (change of ownership) | 32 (7.7%) | 16,849 (10.4%) |
| Median acquisition loan | $673,000 | $693,000 |
| Lenders that made these loans | 133 | 1,648 |
| SBA 504 loans (real estate, equipment) | 38 | 16,714 |
Approvals FY2024 – FY2026 to date (1 Oct 2023 – 30 Jun 2026), cancelled loans excluded. Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan records, as of June 30, 2026.
- SBA 7(a) loans approved
- 416 (Oct 2023 – Jun 2026), from 133 lenders
- Median loan
- $200,000 (national $150,300)
- Median rate at approval
- 10.5% (national 10.25%)
- Loans of $1 million or more
- 63 (15.1%)
- Acquisitions
- 32 loans (7.7%), median $673,000
- SBA 504 loans
- 38, median $952,000
What SBA lenders approved in this code
Other activities related to real estate took 416 SBA 7(a) loans from FY2024 through June 2026, worth $209,418,700, from 133 different lenders. That is roughly three loans per lender: the industry is financed broadly, by many banks that each see a few of these files, rather than by a handful of specialists. It shapes how a file should be presented. Most lenders reviewing one will not have a template for an escrow agency or a landman firm, so the package has to explain how the business earns its money.
| Figure | Other real estate services | National | What it says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median loan | $200,000 | $150,300 | Larger than the typical SBA loan |
| Middle half of loans | $58,750 to $500,000 | The upper quartile ends at the SBA Express ceiling | |
| 90th percentile | $1,537,500 | A long top tail: firm purchases and offices | |
| Loans of $1 million or more | 63 (15.1%) | About one loan in seven | |
| Median rate at approval | 10.5% (middle half 9.5% to 11.5%) | 10.25% | Slightly above the national median |
| Fixed-rate share | 10.8% | Nearly nine in ten loans float with the base rate | |
| Acquisitions | 32 loans (7.7%), median $673,000 at 9.5% | 10.4% of loans | Fewer purchases than average |
| SBA Express | 33.9% of loans | Loans up to $500,000 on the lender's own process | |
| SBA 504 | 38 loans, median $952,000 | Owners buying the offices they work from |
The spread between the median and the top is the story. A third of loans went through SBA Express, which stops at $500,000, and three in four loans are $500,000 or less: sizes that fit working capital, office build-outs and systems. The top tenth, above $1,537,500, is where firm purchases and buildings sit. The median term is 120 months, the 10-year maximum for working capital and goodwill, so at least half of these loans are business loans, not 25-year real estate loans.
Eligibility comes first: service business or passive owner
This is the one SBA industry page where eligibility deserves its own section. SBA finances operating businesses. It does not finance passive businesses, those that make their money by holding property and collecting rent from others, and it does not finance businesses whose main activity is lending or speculating in land. A company filed under a real estate code is not automatically suspect, but the lender will read the tax returns to see where revenue comes from before it reads anything else.
| Type of business | How it earns | How an SBA lender sees it |
|---|---|---|
| Escrow agency | A fee per closing; holds buyers' and sellers' funds in trust | Eligible. Trust money is kept out of the cash-flow analysis, and licensing and bonding are checked |
| Listing or real estate data service | Subscriptions and listing fees | Eligible. Recurring revenue reads well; churn and platform costs get the questions |
| Landman services | Day rates and project fees from energy and mineral clients | Eligible. Revenue follows leasing and drilling activity, so lenders look across several years |
| Real estate consultant (not an agent or appraiser) | Project and advisory fees | Eligible. Dependence on one or two principals is the main risk |
| Company that owns property and rents it to others | Rent | Not eligible as an SBA borrower: a passive business |
There is one route by which a property-holding company does borrow: as an eligible passive company that owns real estate and leases it to an affiliated operating business that occupies it. The operating company is then a co-borrower or guarantor. SBA also looks at affiliates under common ownership. An escrow agency owned by the same people as a brokerage or a development company is measured together with them for size, and the lender will want their statements. See SBA affiliation rules.
What lenders worry about in real estate services
- Transaction volume. Escrow and listing revenue rises and falls with the number of properties changing hands, which follows mortgage rates. Lenders read three years of returns and the year to date, and they discount a record year that came with a busy market.
- Client money. Trust and escrow accounts run large balances that are not the firm's cash. Bank statements show big deposits and withdrawals that are not revenue. A clean file shows trust accounts separately, with reconciliations, so the lender never has to ask whether operating cash and client funds have mixed.
- Licensing, bonding and insurance. Escrow agents and some real estate service firms are licensed or bonded by their state, and most carry errors-and-omissions cover. Lenders confirm these are current and would transfer in a sale.
- Referral concentration. Many firms depend on a few brokerages, lenders or developers for most of their work. A relationship that leaves takes revenue with it; lenders ask for revenue by source.
- Owner-dependence. Where the principal is the reason clients call, the lender tests whether the business survives without them, and key-person life insurance may be a condition.
The coverage test is the same as anywhere: SBA requires debt service coverage of at least 1.15x, and 1.0x globally once the owners' personal debts are included. What differs is which year the lender believes. A firm with earnings of 1,300 against proposed payments of 1,000 in a strong year clears easily; if a slow year showed 1,100 against the same 1,000, it falls under 1.15x, and the lender will size the loan to the weaker year. See debt service coverage ratio and borrowing after a down year.
Separate the trust accounts before the lender asks. A file that mixes client money with operating cash stops at the first review.
Buying a firm, and buying the office
Changes of ownership were 32 loans, 7.7% of the industry against 10.4% nationally, at a median of $673,000 and a median rate of 9.5%. Purchases price below the industry's 10.5% median partly because they are larger: SBA caps a variable rate at the base rate plus 3% above $350,000, against plus 6% from $50,001 to $250,000. They are rarer, most likely because what a buyer acquires here is mostly relationships and a license, and lenders discount what may not transfer.
The usual SBA rules apply. The buyer needs an equity injection of at least 10% of total project costs, and a seller note counts toward half of it only on full standby for the life of the SBA loan. SBA prohibits an earnout to the seller. The seller cannot stay as owner, officer or employee but may consult for up to 12 months, or up to 24 months under SOP 50 10 8.1 from 1 October 2026, which gives a founder time to introduce the buyer to the brokerages that send the work. Where the amount financed, less appraised real estate and equipment, exceeds $250,000, an independent valuation is required, and from 1 October 2026 every change of ownership needs financial due diligence and 1.25x coverage on historical results. See how 7(a) finances an acquisition and financing a property management company acquisition.
The industry's 38 SBA 504 loans carry a median of $952,000, well above the $673,000 median for purchases of a firm. Because 504 requires the borrower to occupy at least 51% of an existing building, these are firms buying their own offices, typically with 50% from a bank, 40% from the CDC and 10% from the borrower. A firm that wants to buy a building and lease out part of it can, within that occupancy rule. See SBA 7(a) vs 504.
Preparing the file
SBA's standard list applies: business tax returns for 2–3 years, a P&L and balance sheet with a year-to-date P&L through last month-end, a debt schedule with copies of any notes being refinanced, and personal tax returns and a personal financial statement for every owner of 20% or more, each of whom personally guarantees the loan. An acquisition adds the target's latest full year of figures and the letter of intent.
For a real estate service firm, add closings or engagements by month for three years, trust-account reconciliations with those accounts' statements kept separate from operating accounts, current licenses, bonds and the errors-and-omissions policy, and revenue by referral source. If the owners also hold property or a brokerage, include those entities' statements now; the lender will ask.
Transparent turns those documents into a full lender package — financing model, lender presentation, blind teaser and underwriting memo — in a day, and takes it to the 278 lenders in its book that write SBA 7(a) and 504. On SBA loans the lender pays Transparent, not the borrower. See the package, SBA loan rates, and neighboring codes: real estate agents and brokers and residential property managers.
Common questions
- Can my real estate services company use an SBA loan to buy a rental property?
- Not to hold property it rents to others; that is a passive business SBA does not finance. It can buy a building it occupies. Under 504 the business must occupy at least 51% of an existing building, or 60% of new construction.
- Do escrow and trust balances count as the firm's cash?
- No. Lenders treat them as client money and exclude them from liquidity and cash flow. Keeping those accounts separate, with reconciliations, makes the file easier to underwrite.
- Why is this industry's median rate above the national median?
- The industry median was 10.5% against 10.25% nationally. Rates depend on each lender's pricing within SBA's caps, and most of these loans float. Acquisition loans, which are larger and fall under the tightest cap of base plus 3%, had a median of 9.5%.
- Is SBA Express a good fit for a real estate service firm?
- For smaller needs, often. SBA Express loans go up to $500,000 with a 50% guaranty, and 33.9% of this industry's loans used it. Larger purchases and buildings go through standard 7(a) or 504.
- Does a slow housing market stop an SBA loan?
- Not by itself. Lenders size the loan to the weaker years in the record and ask how fixed costs moved when volume fell. A firm that cut costs with volume reads better than one whose margin collapsed.